Canada business search: federal or provincial register?

There is no single national register of Canadian companies. Which register holds a company depends on the law it was incorporated under, and searching the wrong one is the commonest reason a Canadian company "does not exist".

Two layers of registers

A Canadian business corporation is incorporated either federally, under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), or under the law of a province or territory. The federal register is run by Corporations Canada, part of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). Each province and territory runs its own, for example the Registraire des entreprises du Quebec (REQ), the Ontario Business Registry, BC Registries and Alberta Corporate Registry. A federally incorporated company may also have to register in each province where it carries on business, so the same company can appear in more than one place.

Register	Holds	Covered by Prometiam
Corporations Canada (federal)	Corporations under the CBCA, the Canada Cooperatives Act and the historic federal forms still on the register	Yes
Quebec REQ	Quebec businesses of every form, plus extra-provincial companies operating in Quebec	No
Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and the other provinces and territories	Companies incorporated under provincial law, and extra-provincial registrations	No
CRA Business Number	A tax identifier for any business, not a register	Used as a search key for federal corporations only

How to tell where to look

• The name ending and the governing law on the contract. A federal corporation's articles name the CBCA; a provincial one names the provincial act.
• The corporation number. A federal corporation number looks like 426160-7 (Shopify Inc.); provincial numbers have their own formats.
• The Business Number. The 9-digit BN is issued by the Canada Revenue Agency and can sit behind a federal or a provincial company; it does not tell you the register.
• The head office. A company based in Quebec may be provincial (REQ only) or federal; one based anywhere may be either.

What the API covers

Only federal corporations are served: those incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) or the Canada Cooperatives Act, plus the historic federal forms that remain on the register. The provincial and territorial registers (Quebec REQ, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and the others) are not served, and neither are not-for-profit corporations. There is no activity code, no share capital, no officers and no insolvency notices. A search for a provincially incorporated company returns nothing even though the company exists. For a Quebec-only company use the REQ; for the others use the relevant provincial register.

For a federal corporation the record gives the legal name, the governing statute as the legal form, the status (including dissolution pending, amalgamated and dissolved), the registered address with the province in region, the Business Number and the other names, including the second-language form of the name. It is open data from Corporations Canada, read daily.

A practical rule

If you need a Canadian company's identity at scale, start with the federal data and treat "no match" as "not a federal corporation", not as "not a company". Then route the misses to the relevant provincial register, by hand or through a provincial service. The comparison page Corporations Canada search vs an API shows what the federal route gives you, and the Business Number guide explains the two identifiers.

Canada is included in every plan at no upcharge. The 14-day free trial includes 500 credits, needs a card and charges nothing; Starter (EUR 9.99 a month, 1,000 credits) follows unless you cancel. A company record costs 1 credit; an error response costs nothing. See pricing for the plans.

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Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Corporations Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada)